Two parties dominate Taiwan. This brash surgeon-turned-politician is shaking that up
TAIPEI, Taiwan — His name was enough to sell out a concert hall in less than five minutes at $280 a head — as much as the best seats at a BlackPink concert.
But far from a global K-pop phenomenon, the headline act was a graying, bespectacled father of three, who failed music class when he was in middle school — and now hopes to become the next president of Taiwan.
As in the United States, political candidates from outside the two major parties in this island democracy of 23 million people rarely stand a chance. But four months out from what promises to be a highly contentious presidential election, Ko Wen-je appears to be rewriting that script.
The 64-year-old doctor-turned-politician has won over many of his compatriots by tapping into growing discontent with the political establishment and signaling a desire for middle ground on how Taipei should manage its relationship with
